Father Lands

by Emily Ballou

349 pages, Paperback

First published January 11, 2002

About the author

Emily Ballou is a poet, screenwriter and novelist. Her novels Father Lands and Aphelion were both published by Picador. She was chosen as one of the Sydney Morning Herald’s Best Young Novelists of 2003. The Darwin Poems, on the life of Charles Darwin, was published by the University of Western Australia Press in 2009.

Reviews

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author of this novel grew up on the street where I currently live in Milwaukee, and the street and neighborhood play a major role in the book. In fact the people who lived in our house for 30 years before we bought it are mentioned in a thinly veiled way.

The story takes place in the late 70s, at the beginning of the school integration process in Milwaukee, and it was interesting to see this process through the eyes of the children, including a white child who was bussed to a predominantly African American school.

The writing is beautiful in parts, and some of the book is so devastatingly sad it hurt my heart. Lots here about the grief parents feel about losing their children, either to death or just growing up. Also lots about the loneliness of children whose parents aren't listening.

I loved the role the houses played here. More evidence that these old, sturdy houses have so much history. We're clearly just occupying them until the next family comes along.

[Dana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book. A poem in prose. Still lingering in my memory.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't wait to read something else by this author, her writing style is so poetic and so beautiful. About Cherry and Hugo, classmates in a 1970s integrated primary school whose fathers have both left.